Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I sort of wish they just did that in past years rather than just close the ride on low attendance days, but they never did.

[SoCalJasonland]

^ I sort of wish they just did that in past years rather than just close the ride on low attendance days, but they never did.

 

It is kind of like the former Big Coaster / Scandia Screamer in Ontario, California. The last car of the train was horribly violent and when it was under 70 degrees, every seat had to be full on the coaster before they would dispatch. I asked the ride operator why they did not put four water dummies in the last car, fill them up, strap them in well, and leave them there. He said that makes sense but management would rather just run it less and save money. I guess having one decent coaster that people had to stand around and wait for a half-hour to dispatch wasn't enough to keep people interested and coming back. They gone now.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I consider myself very fortunate to have ridden the Scandia Screamer since I showed up late on a cool Sunday night when the park was really empty.

[DILinator]

For those that have been to this park, do the coasters, particularly Hades, have bins or shelves in the station to put belongings like hats, or glasses on?

[Canobie Coaster]

Cyclops and Zeus had these little plastic bins for small articles like phones, wallets, and keys. And bags could be placed on the ride platform.

 

I don't have any photos of Hades 360's station, but I don't recall there being any lockers at the entrance so I imagine it's a similar set-up to the other woodies.

[Kyle Coleman]

I find it funny that Zeus has a sign In the station saying it's running aggressive today which implies it has days it's not running aggressive.

[DILinator]

Thanks for the response, Canobie! I'd have to imagine Hades has a similar setup, especially being quite and aggressive coaster itself.

 

Speaking of Zeus, and MtO's notoriously aggressive coasters, is keeping hands down advisable on their coasters, vs. hands-up all the way?

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I think Zeus was retracked last year so it was running the smoothest of the coasters. I found it quite smooth.

 

Hades 360 does rattle you around, but the Timberliners are very well padded.

[grsupercity]

I am thinking I may actually check out this park in June since its open and only a car ferry away lol

 

If me and my family were to brave the hotels here does anyone know which hotel is the cleanest? Or who to bribe to get a clean room? lol

[KBrylczyk]

Leave it to Mount Olympus to have their loose article bins literally just nuts & bolts bins from their mechanic shop's toolshed.

[cparkes92]

I am thinking I may actually check out this park in June since its open and only a car ferry away lol

 

If me and my family were to brave the hotels here does anyone know which hotel is the cleanest? Or who to bribe to get a clean room? lol

 

Same here!

[DILinator]

I went to this park for the first time this past Saturday, and took my 3 oldest kids (my usual coaster riding companions) as well! We all had a great time! The horror stories about this park had us a little nervous, but we didn't run into any issues, and had a blast on everything we rode! The park is attractive, and the theming is consistent, and nice (even if it's cheap), and the coasters all ran reasonably smoothly.

 

We rode each of the three major coasters twice. and three of us liked Hades the best. What an amazing coaster! It definitely gave me The Voyage vibes, and while I still prefer The Voyage, Hades is going to be pretty high up there in my wooden coaster rankings once I sit down and figure all that out again! It appears whatever track devolution happened, they may have rectified, or maybe it's just because it's early in the season, because the roughness, and jackhammering was minimal on Hades. It was there, and to be fair, I leaned forward the whole ride. But compared to an absolutely awful wooden coaster like Wilde Beast, or SoB was, it was not bad at all.

 

My daughter was the lone dissenting voice who preferred a different coaster to Hades (and her second ride on Hades, she did complain of neck pain afterward), and her favorite was Zeus. That was another really fun coaster, and you could tell they've put a lot of retracking work into it where it was notoriously rough before. It didn't seem very rough at all now, and was filled with airtime from start to finish. My other two sons considered this their second favorite coaster at the park, but I put it into third, just slightly, because...

 

Cyclops. Holy heck!!! The airtime on the park's oldest coaster is INSANE! I can only imagine what it was like before the last drop was modified, the last car was removed, and the buzz bars were still there. Dangerous. That's what it would have been like! This barely edged Zeus for my second favorite coaster at the park, just on the strength of the experience sitting in the back, and going over the three main drops off the ride. Standing airtime, all of them! The coaster wasn't really rough at all, and appears to have aged very well. It definitely reminded me of another great CCI coaster, Cornball Express, in that the airtime was super strong, and borderline dangerous feeling. I still consider Shivering Timbers my favorite CCI, on the strength of the lengthy ride, and strong airtime throughout (Cyclops' biggest "flaw", is easily that it's over pretty much as soon as it starts), but with Cornball and Cyclops, the defunct manufacturer clearly has left some fantastic coasters behind! (I'm not a big Raven fan, haven't been on Boulder Dash, and actively dislike The Legend, for context.)

 

As for the rest of the park, its lack of flat rides is pretty stunning, as the Manticore star flyer (or whatever make it is) was the only one I rode there, and they had a couple of other kiddie-looking rides. We did two of the Go-Kart tracks, and they were sufficiently fun. But Fun Spot's are WAY better, and I think have ruined typical Go-Karts for me. Plus, the fumes of the Karts really started getting to me, which is why we only ended up doing the two biggest tracks (and my biggest complaint about the whole park is that the track going up and around the Trojan Horse out front isn't even really used - false advertising! .) The food we had was good though - good as far as park food goes - and the merch selection was solid, if not leaving a little something to be desired (seriously, no fearsome foursome graphic tees Mt. Olympus, with the theme you have at your park???)

 

We didn't do the water park, because some of us (read: my old butt, and my daughter) were pretty tired after being out in the hot sun, and climbing the park's stairs and hills all day. Oh yes, the terrain. I'd heard it was a workout, and boy, that's no joke! I'm WAY too far out of shape for this park, especially since every coaster has an elevated station you have to go up a bunch of stairs to get to. I'm really committing to my health in June (and, continuing beyond that, frankly), because I can't do parks like I could just a couple years ago, and it's because of my weight, which is the most it's ever been. Lockdown hasn't been kind to me in that regard. But this park would be a workout for anybody, as it's got some big hills, and the aforementioned stairs. So, hopefully before I revisit, I lose at least 50 pounds, and can last longer in the park. We ended up leaving the park a couple of hours before close, because we'd done everything we wanted to, had done each of the major coasters twice (yes, we did Pegasus, but it really isn't worth talking about much beyond this parenthetical bit here), and were hot and tired. I will say, I love the coasters, but I definitely get the feeling they're difficult to marathon, especially Hades. I've never had any issues marathoning The Voyage, but Hades is a good bit rougher, in my opinion (I know some people find The Voyage intolerably rough, which I don't, but it's clearly a thing.)

 

All in all, it was a wonderful return to coaster-riding, as we got our first laps of the year in! Mt. Olympus was a surprisingly good park to us, and all the Big 3 woodies were very good! I feel like Mt. O had a very good return to operations plan in place, and between all of the hand sanitizer stations throughout the park (including at the exit to each ride, which is the most important place), and the spraying of disinfectant and wiping down of coasters being done between every train of passengers, I never felt the least bit sketchy about the COVID situation. Staff (mostly) worse face masks, but I appreciate that they leave the decision for the guests up to the guests, and I saw less than 10 masked guests the entire day. Social Distancing was encouraged by signage in every line, and my group tried to abide by that, though not everybody did, and sometimes the lines were more cramped than they probably should be. But on the whole, it felt like a normal park experience, just with some added necessary precautions, which in my opinion, is how every park chain and park should be treating this pandemic situation. I applaud Mt. Olympus for their handling of the re-opening, and for being so quick to reopen, and hope it ends up being a great Summer for them! The deal can't be beat, as I got a room for four, and admission for four to the park for around $90. Love it! I'll definitely be back at some point, probably next year, when I'm hopefully not as fat!

Cyclops going down its legendary final drop!

Sanitization of the Go-Karts in progress.

I was able to snap this picture of all three of the big coasters on their lift hills at the same time! With one train ops, it seems like this would be a very rare occurrence! (Red-Hades, White-Zeus, Yellow-Cyclops)

A freshly sanitized front-row ride on Hades awaits!

I love the Trojan Horse that is the icon of Mt. Olympus! The Go-Kart track around it not actually being used? Not so much...

The Star-Flyer flat, pretty much the only non-upcharge adult flat in the park, getting sanitized.

We all thought the theming of this park was well done, even if it's done on the cheap! Still better than Cedar Fair!

Edited June 10, 2020 by DILinator

[CaptainUnknown]

I've had rides on Hades before and after the revamp, including the first public train after the revamp. Even that first train sucked. The park didn't retrack the whole ride--just some sections. I also had a backseat Buzz bars Cyclops ride. It was as much of a religious experience as you'd think it would be.

 

Also, concerning the Trojan horse track: was it just not open or were you merely unimpressed at the layout?

[DILinator]

Regarding the Trojan Horse track, what was there was fine, but it didn't go up and around the horse. Does it normally? It didn't appear that was in use, and it didn't have any metal on the track, which seemed to indicate to me it never was. It did go underneath the horse, however.

 

As for Hades, I thought it was great, and well within my tolerance levels for a wooden coaster, when leaning forward. I could tell that it can be rough though, especially if you lean back. Also, I only rode in the first and second rows, so I imagine it gets rougher, the further back you go.

[CaptainUnknown]

The Trojan Horse track appears mostly similar to what it's been in the past. The track does go through the Horse. Compare with this picture I have from March 2012.

Hades Parking Lot section (Pre inversion) in background

[DILinator]

So, you're saying that section that spirals down, after going through the upper part of the horse has been in use before? Because it certainly wasn't when we went, and it appeared that the entry to go up to it was cemented off, from what I could tell. I was really looking forward to that part, from having seen it before in pictures, so that was my only minor disappointment with the park.

 

(EDIT: Looking at the Google Satellite image of it, you can even see where they've cemented off those parts of the track.)

[CaptainUnknown]

I once spun out while inside the tunnel that goes through the horse. This sounds totally like Mt. Olympus. Rather than fix something, better to block it off.

[DILinator]

That's too bad they closed it off. Nice to see it once was in use though, rather than all just window dressing.

 

On a semi-unrelated note, I wish we'd tried the first Go-Kart track you come to, near Hades. It looked like it was just a flat track when walking by, but I missed the giant elevated structure in the back. Oh well... We'll be going again, that's for sure! We loved the whole Wisconsin Dells area as a whole, as well!

[DBru]

Nice report David! Glad to see a positive report from a generally negative-reviewed park. I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to make it to Wisconsin, but I plan to get there eventually. I’m happy to hear that Cyclops still has impressive airtime despite the reprofiling of the famous drop—the difference looks quite drastic in POV’s. But I’ve always thought the coaster had a similar vibe to Cornball Express, which I love, so I’m excited to check it out some day!

 

I’ve yet to ride a coaster with Timberliners that I thought tracked smoothly (including first year rides on Mine Blower and Kentucky Flyer), so I’ve adjusted my expectations accordingly for Hades. The thing sure does look impressive though.

[DILinator]

^I haven't been on Kentucky Rumbler yet, but Mine Blower is a good example of a coaster that seemed rough pretty much out of the gate. So perhaps it is primarily a Timberliner issue.

 

I'm glad you liked the report! Hopefully you get a chance to make it up there and check it out. I definitely think the coasters are more than worth going out of the way for, in spite of any roughness, and the park just seemed like a "fun" place to me, in spite of how much is there, much like Fun Spot or Indiana Beach.

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report! I too enjoyed my time at Mt. Olympus last year. I got three rides on Hades, including 2 in the back, and while it definitely throws you around, I found it perfectly tolerable with those Timberliner trains.

[grsupercity]

Enjoyed the trip report. I really enjoyed Ravine Flyer II and Mind Blower so I am really looking forward to Hades. I remember watching it on the discovery channel around 2005. I love gravity group and as long as it tracks better then Voyage it should be a great ride

[Canobie Coaster]

^ I've never had an issue with the tracking on Voyage, but I know others have (rode it in May 2017, September 2018, and May 2019). Hades 360 was considerably bumpier.

[PKI Jizzman]

No real complaints about Hades from my 2016 ride. I thought the airtime was pretty excellent and it wasn't even close to being too rough to enjoy.

 

Zeus was so rough it immediately ranked with some of the worst wooden coasters I've ever been on.

 

Cyclops was great! The go karts are fun, too. It's a weird park. I think I paid more for parking than admission.

[SharkTums]

Cyclops saves that park in my eyes. I don't know how it still runs and how it never killed anyone but it's a great ride. I'm guessing part of your better experience than average is due to smaller crowds and more dedicated employees. Thanks for the trip report!